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[JoeYoder]

Last winter I had my system filled with the proper mixture of water and Plumb Guard antifreeze but then had some mishaps with leaks and over temperature pop offs.  I added an unknown quantity of water just to keep the system functional so what is in the system now may be only 25% glycol instead of 50%.  I have a 5 gallon bucket below the currently leaking expansion tank with probably 4 gallons of the mix that looks perfectly fine.

What is the best way to determine the current concentration?

Does anyone know if it is possible to increase the concentration of glycol now in the system by boiling off some of the water?  (I understand that some solar systems use what is called  a "boil back" approach to deal with stagnation.  The systems are designed with an expansion tank sized to allow the water in the collectors to boil and push the liquid water into the tank.  The glycol stays in the liquid water and is thus not subject to the breakdown caused by stagnation in a collector.)

Any other suggestions to avoid throwing away what is in the system and replacing it with known glycol /water mix?

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Joe

[slimjim]

Any supply house has test strips that can determine the concentration, if you sre low you can pump or dump new antifreeze into the boiler to bring up the concetraion.

[JoeYoder]

I will need to take some of the diluted mix out of the system to have room to add antifreeze.  I was hoping to avoid having to throw that away.

Is there a place that recycles such product?

Thanks,

Joe

[slimjim]

Your town dump or transfer station should have a barrel for recycling of it

[hoardac]

Can you save it in case you have to add some more in the future?

[JoeYoder]

Sure I can save it since I am already a pack rat.  I'd prefer reusing it via concentration rather than dedicating storage space to a solution too weak for use. 

I bought some test strips yesterday and expect to get a reading in the next several days.  I will also plan to talk to the manufacturer about boiling it down.

[slimjim]

HA! pack rat, I know somebody like that